Tuesday, 24 April 2012

Not much sport climbing going on right now (well it was crisp this past weekend). The good news: its been great weather since Christmas. The bad news: its all wet now... And we have more snow now than we had all winter....

But there is no time to lose the plot.... Motivation is all time high and the big picture is looking good. Given the time of the year I'm doing well with the onsight climbing having sent a few 7b:s and and a 7b+ the other day. Some of the motivation is also coming from the super exiting partnership I have entered with Metolius, I'm super psyched to be part of the Metolius Climbing Team. Its such a cool company with some outstanding gear made in the USA.

So much great stuff going on right now and some key pieces in the great climbing puzzle are falling in to place. Today obviously no climbing but a one hour on the fingerboard compensated for that.

Funny in March it was too hot to climb at 1500 meters in Ceuse and now its snowy. Whats around the next corner? Back to dry tooling? Or even Ice? Let's hope not as I want to be in the best possible shape for alpine rock climbing.

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

The Trilogy project is some thing that started to take shape in my head last summer. I have a long lasting love affair with the Dolomite’s. We all know how it is with progression. At first glance a route can come across as more of fiction than a viable option. So we dream about the route.

You just look at it think; OK fun for the lucky few who has the
skills to pull off a route like that. But as you get closer to the mountains
and get to know them things change. Once you have been up a wall and seen that
it actually has its weaknesses you start to see possibilities.

Routes that previously where in my dreams I now think are well with in reach of what I can climb. The Trilogy Project all boils down to time, partner, training and motivation. I think I have all of that in place. Not one partner but with 3 different partners. With this set up I think I will end up with the best possible partner for each route.

I think climbing is so personal that it is not realistic to think
some one else is interested in devoting so much time and effort to a single
project some one else has come up with.

We all like different styles of climbing, different mountains
appeal to us as climbers and even if we can agree on a mountain it’s not
the same as agreeing on a specific line or route.

I think it’s important to set climbing goals in order to get on
with training and the days where motivation might not be on top. So This
Trilogy Project is part of my mental training program. It’s driving me to train harder and the planning of this venture is making me happy. I know what it takes and I
know if I will be ready.

The down side with this kind obsession is that alpine rock
climbing on big walls is an iffy business. It usually pays off NOT to have a
plan and be as opportunistic as possible. But some times an idea is impossible
to shake off. It makes sense to me to try this Trilogy it follows a mental
logic for me. This is all about my desire to evolve as a mountain climber.

This is what I want more than any thing. I don't want the
individual routes I want to complete the idea I have in my head that's makes so
much sense to me.

Photo of Cima Ovest and Cima Grande September 2011

So what is this Trilogy Project? It’s a project that involves climbing three major routes on three different walls. This is not meant as pre spray I'm simply trying to make sens of what I want and why.

Saturday, 14 April 2012

Will be back blogging and posting pictures soon. I have had a minor computer breakdown for some time but soon I can turn on the spray. Ok this is no JOKE. I can't stand the spring. What good can it possibly produce? Rain, wet snow? Nothing I want. Frankly I hate spring. The stick? Who needs stick? I want a mountain!
I'm think I suffer from being over motivated... I want to go to the Dolomite's and climb big imposing walls on trad gear or what ever as long as its big and exposed. I think I need to get shit scared or some thing. In need of therapy... Any way as substitute my Tre Cime Topo is now starting to look more and more like a Playboy Magazine in a dorm room at college...

Well lets hope the road opens up soon so I can go and have a look at Piccolissima and the route Nobile. Ok bolted but looks like good warm up for more interesting stuff. Can I wait? Nope. But I guess I have to.

Picture: Last summer on Cima Ovest

I had to edit this post with some thing Joey Kinder wrote on Facebook that I think I was trying to say in this post.

Monday, 2 April 2012

Well I have not written in quite some time about my own climbing. Since the Ice season went out the door, I have been busy with sport climbing. Having trained on the MOON board and on and off on a indoor wall I notice a significant difference in my stamina and power. I have been to St Leger a few times as well as my first trip up to Ceuse. The later was a huge let down as it was way too hot in Ceuse... But non the less it was great to be up there sharing the crag with only one other team. I think and hope I will progress a bit this year in terms of what I can get done. I notice that a few new lines have been bolted and they look cool. As I will spend quite some time this summer in the Dolomite's I need to be out of the start blocks earlier than usually in order to get what I want done before I depart for this years alpine adventure. So far so good. I have manage a few 7c and 7c+ routes along with some volume training. Some significant pain in the finger joints is the price I have had to pay so I have slowed down on hard routes trying not to get injured.